Warriors take exception to exceptional player's flopping

Updated 11:40 pm, Friday, April 18, 2014

Blake Griffin has a reputation for flopping and complaining while physically dominating.

Blake Griffin has a reputation for flopping and complaining while physically dominating.

Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, Associated Press

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LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 31: Blake Griffin #32 of the Los Angeles Clippers dunks against the Golden State Warriors at Staples Center on October 31, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. The Clippers won 126-115. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images) less

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 31: Blake Griffin #32 of the Los Angeles Clippers dunks against the Golden State Warriors at Staples Center on October 31, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. The Clippers won 126-115. ... more

Photo: Stephen Dunn, Getty Images

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Apr 12, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin (32) reacts after a foul is called during the game against the Sacramento Kings during the second quarter at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports less

Apr 12, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin (32) reacts after a foul is called during the game against the Sacramento Kings during the second quarter at Staples Center. ... more

Photo: Kelvin Kuo, Reuters

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Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin rolls after he made a jump shot and landed during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday, March 27, 2014, in Dallas. The Clipper won 109-103. (AP Photo/LM Otero) less

Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin rolls after he made a jump shot and landed during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday, March 27, 2014, in Dallas. The ... more

No, not steroids. Nobody is accusing the Clippers' big man of juicing.

But Alex Rodriguez is often mocked and ridiculed by his fellow players for his odd behavior, stuff outside the norms of gamesmanship and routine cheating, like yelling at a fielder camped under a popup.

Griffin has been attracting comment around the league for what we'll call his acting - flopping, flailing and crying about being fouled.

Those are common tools of the trade in the NBA, but the whining about Griffin's whining has grown louder, possibly because he had a breakout MVP-level season.

The Warriors' have been leaders in the "Blake's a Baby" campaign. Jermaine O'Neal confronted Griffin in a tunnel after a game earlier this season, possibly to ask the chippy Clipper, "What's your deal?" And Klay Thompson, just days before the playoff series between the two teams, called out Griffin on radio for flopping and flailing, "A bull in a china shop."

Friday, I asked Clippers coach Doc Rivers if his power forward is unfairly maligned by Thompson and others.

"I don't really care, honestly," Rivers said. "I just keep looking at what Blake's done. If he's flopping, keep doing it, because those numbers look awful good to me. So flop on ...

"When the votes come for MVP, he'll be in the top three. How is that maligned? Know what I mean? So I'm good with anything anybody says. Blake can just keep doing what (he's) doing."

Griffin's he-man image is sometimes undercut by, as Thompson pointed out, a penchant for "selling" fouls by flailing his muscular arms like a man trying to hail a helicopter.

His fans point out that he was not fined for flopping all season. Great. Neither was I. Commissioner David Stern made a huge deal about stamping out flopping, but it was all hot air.

During the 2012-13 season, the first one under an anti-flop rule, 19 players were warned about flopping and five of them were subsequently fined $5,000 each (second offense). Since there are about 10 flagrant flops in every NBA game, a few thousand went undetected/unpunished.

As for the whining, in defense of Griffin, every big man in NBA history has felt attacked by foes and under-protected by refs. Wilt Chamberlain retired (then unretired) after his rookie NBA season in part because he believed opponents were allowed to mug him with impunity. When Pat Riley coached the Lakers, he repeatedly sent video clips to the league office documenting brutality against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

But in Griffin's case, opponents wonder how a guy can cry so much (16 technical fouls this season, tied for the league lead) when he led the league in foul calls received.

Griffin wisely chooses to stay out of the discussions of his on-court behavior. He probably has to stifle the temptation to say, "Me? What about our point guard, Chris Paul? He flops as much as I do."

Media people who have been around Griffin say he's a good guy and good teammate, not eerily out of touch with the real world, so comparisons to Alex Rodriguez are probably unfair. But that league-wide buzz ...

"I think what's happening," Rivers said, "is Blake's kicking a lot of people's butt(s) and they need something to say about it. ... They got to find a way to stop him, and Blake's hard to stop."

Ah, there's the rub for the Warriors. I'm almost positive that Griffin does not appreciate O'Neal and Thompson serving as national co-spokesmen for the campaign to malign Griffin.

That campaign could have a backlash. By the set of his jaw Friday, Griffin seemed like a man very eager to set the record straight as to what his game is all about.

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